A taste of France – all in a day’s learning at Thame school

Click for the full, French experience! THAME school children were given a real taste of France on Wednesday (October 11), when John Hampden Primary School organised a marché francais to give the children a French market experience and for them to sample different foods.

In the school hall French accordion music played in the background while children managed the stalls which included a boulangerie, patisserie, café, animaux (soft toys) and a salon de beauté.

This was a market for the whole school, where the children, staff and parents were able to sample a variety of foods from Petit Beurre biscuits, Camembert, Pains au Chocolat, Saucisson Sec, Sirops and much more from stalls for which pupils in KS2 had designed posters, and managed the stalls. The children were all prepped in advance to try out their basic French greetings andsome key words that they had been learning.

Younger pupils in KS1 visited the market having learned some French words and expressions in their PE lessons as a cross-curricular way of learning. The market was open for an hour after school and money was successfully raised to go towards a school funded project.

The teacher responsible for French at John Hampden School, who initiated the French market project, Laura McRonald, said afterwards: “Merci to the staff and parents and local residents for supporting the first of our French projects for this academic year. It was a huge success raising over £280 for the school after just one hour’s worth of trading! All the children got to sample a variety of French themed food stuffs such as sirops de Grenadine, Menthe, fromages, saucisson sec, pâté, crepes, patisserie, tricolor face paints, tricolor hairspray and tricolor finger nails.

“The soft toy stall was very popular along with the café serving hot drinks. The event was well attended and we ran out of food! But we do have a few bottles of sirop to sell which, if people are interested, can be bought for a contribution of £2.50 per bottle. Staff and volunteers were invaluable in assisting with the event on the day.

“Fun was had by all and we will surely to organising another French themed event at some point in the future.”

French is taught to KS2 pupils at John Hampden School, where a school correspondance exchange with Thame’s twinned French town of Montesson, is being set up.